


Ghosts of Days Gone By

by Shinigami_HiMeSakura



Category: Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gunnar is Kenner, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-03-01 00:35:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13283187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinigami_HiMeSakura/pseuds/Shinigami_HiMeSakura
Summary: Gunnar's moods are always volatile, but there's always a certain time of year when they become more unstable than usual and all of the team knows to stay out of his way. However, Lee's curiosity about it gets the best of him, he ends up learning more about his comrade then he thought possible.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I've had this idea in my head for who knows how l and I thought it'd be fun to write. I hope everyone enjoys it! :) 
> 
> A little background, for anyone who hasn't seen it, Showdown in Little Tokyo was a early 90's buddy cop movie starring Dolph Lundgren as Sgt. Chris Kenner and the late Brandon Lee as Det. Johnny Murata . Besides it being a decent and really funny action flick, the subtext between the two main characters was off the charts. Also all of the expendables had to have had some type of life before becoming mercenaries, so I thought it'd be interesting to tie the two characters together and give Gunnar a bit more history and maybe a reason why he's so unstable, regardless of how fictional it is ;)

Lee was curious. 

They were in between jobs and that usually meant they were left to their own devices. For him, this usually alternated between harassing Barney at the hangar or his house, harassing Tool at his shop, or getting stupidly drunk at a bar. However, this time things were a little different and the difference had finally peaked his interest. 

No one really questioned what Gunnar did this time every year. All anyone knew is that for about a week toward the end of March he'd be moodier and more violent then usual, but there would also be a sadness to him that the rest of the team had never seen before and had never quite learned to handle. They all usually stayed out of his way during this time, even Barney and Yang, the two people he would be the most likely to listen to, or at the least, not maim too badly.

Then, at the pinnacle of all the anger and silence, the giant blond would just disappear. He'd be gone two or three days and then come back like nothing happened. The anger would be gone, or at least toned down, but the sadness would still remain, then they would get a job and the cycle starts again.

He'd asked Barney about it one night in the hangar. “Lee, one day your curiosity is gonna get you killed.” He said with an exasperated shake of his head.

Lee just smirked at the response. The words doing nothing more than piquing his interest in the matter further. “Awww you wouldn't let him kill your right hand man would ya? God knows your left isn't doing so hot.”

The punch to the shoulder tipped him over onto the floor and the drunken giggling began. He could hear Barney rolling his eyes as the other man leaned over him. “Seriously. Let it go. Sometimes people need secrets to stay secret.”

“So I'm something to stay a secret then?” There wasn't any accusations or anger behind it, just pure fact and a bit of amusement.

That earned him a snort, “Please we couldn't be less of a secret if you rode me in the middle of a mission briefing.” He leaned down for a kiss hoping that he could distract Christmas enough to forget all about this thing with Gunnar and if the way Lee moaned into it as he pulled roughly at his shirt was any indication, he was almost there.

Sadly, he did need to break for air, which meant Lee's mouth was free to ask more, if not slightly dazed questions, but a glare silenced him and Lee rose his hands in a calming gesture in response.

“I'm not gonna say it again. Turn your curiosity somewhere else, or do we need to start dragging some of your skeletons out of the closet?”

Lee sighed. He knew he was on the verge of pushing Barney too far, but it also told him something else, that he knew way more then he was letting on. “Fine. I'll let it go.”

Barney nodded. Content for the moment with his answer, even though he knew it wasn't the complete truth. “Good. Besides since when are you so interested in Gunnar's personal life anyway?”

Lee hesitated. He really didn't know. He had no problem with the other man, except when he'd go off the rails anyway, but what the others did in their personal time never roused his interest as much as this did. “It's...it's just...he's been stable for awhile and I hope he stays that way.”  
<  
Barney nodded slowly and Lee knew for sure that the other man didn't buy his reason at all, but he didn't want to push this any further than Lee did at this point. “Let's go to bed Lee.”

He'd let it go for the time being as he followed Barney out of the hangar and back to his truck, but he knew his mind wasn't going to let this go for long. 

It was nearing the end of March and Lee was proud of himself too. He'd almost forgotten his interest in Gunnar's life or at least buried so it wasn't all he thought about anymore, but just as he'd expected, everything crashed and burned on the 31st. They had been prepping for a job they had next week and the easy silence between the two of them was broken by a shout from Toll Road.

“Where is that giant fucking Sasquatch?!”

Barney looked up in confusion and slight apprehension. “What happened?” 

“Fucker's supposed to pick me up to go grab some equipment. I thought he was doing me a solid by showing up with the stuff, but then he just leaves it with me to somehow bring it in on my **_BIKE_** , before saying he had something else to do!”

This made Lee look up from the knives he was cleaning and did his best to ignore Barney's warning glare in his peripherals. “Did he happen to say where he was going?” he asked innocently.

“Lee...!” Barney said angrily, but Toll didn't seem to hear him and was still too enraged to notice the tension between his teammates.

“Something about Little Tokyo or the valley I think.”

Before he could stop him, Lee had already grabbed his jacket and was headed out the door. Barney stared at the back of his head and shook his head. He had no idea what he had just walked into. All he could do is hope that Little Tokyo was big enough for Lee to miss him until it was too late.

It took the better part of the day for Lee to find him which was surprising considering that while Gunnar sticks out like a sore thumb everywhere, it would be especially true here. However, the location where he found him was the strangest of all. 

It was a small cemetery at the edge of town. He saw the blonde's bike on the side of the road and started toward the gates. It didn't take long to find him. He was standing in front of a gravestone under one of the larger trees, a bit more secluded then some of the other graves. He did have to do a bit of a double take, as Gunnar looked more like someone out of a 90's action flick than the hardened, slightly unbalanced mercenary Lee knew.

He stayed back, hiding in some of the bushes and hoping that he hadn't been noticed. He watched as Gunnar knelt in front of the gravestone to place a small bouquet of flowers before closing his eyes to pray. Lee wasn't sure what he was seeing as Gunnar appeared to wipe his eyes as if he'd been crying. He knew he was intruding, and it was probably in his best interest if he just turned around and went back before the blonde noticed him. 

However, there was another part of him, that wanted to stay.

While he was still curious, his concern had reached to new levels. They'd all lost people in this line of work, some of those losses driving them to this job to begin with. If anything he wanted him to know tat he understood, and maybe he could even attempt to help.

He glanced up to make sure that Gunnar wasn't paying attention to him, only to find the other man had disappeared. Now was his chance. With as much stealth and speed he could muster, walked over to the headstone. It was was a simple, black marble stone with the name in Japanese, English and the dates engraved on it. 

“Johnny Murata...” The name didn't ring any bells. Not that it probably would to be begin with. If Gunnar talked about his past as much as Toll talked about his therapist, he wouldn't be out here right now.

He felt the gun cock before he'd even heard it. He raised his hands in surrender and stood to face his would-be attacker. “Easy there big guy. I come in peace.” The gun that was pulled and the glare that faced him, Lee expected. The red eyes, and the tear streaks were something he had never seen in his life and he hope his face didn't betray that.

The gun stayed steady, point directly at Lee's face. “What the fuck are you doing here Christmas?!”

“You left Toll hangin today. Wanted to check in.”

“So you followed me here?” Before Lee could open his mouth Gunnar continued, “You can't honestly believe I didn't know you were watching me from over there. Did Barney send you to keep tabs on me?”

Lee smirked before he could stop himself, “He actually told me to mind my own business.”

“You should've listened.” He turned back to the headstone. Dropping his gun to his side, he knelt beside it once more and started fixing the flowers that were there. He could still feel the eyes of the other man behind him and sighed impatiently. “What do you want?!” 

“Who was he?”

And this time Lee thought may have finally done it. He may have finally pushed him too far. Gunnar shot back up more quickly than man his size should be able to move and while Lee would never admit it, that gun pressed against his forehead before he'd even had time to react. “Easy.” He tried pacifying him again, but the look of pure rage and despair that faced him had him second guessing himself for the first time in a very long time. “Just want to know who to pay my respects to.”

That seemed to be the completely wrong thing to say. Gunnar's breathing grew harsher and his arm began to shake as if he was finally going to give and pull the trigger. Lee subtly readied his stance, he didn't come here for a fight, but he wasn't going to let Gunnar take him out this easily either. He watched the arm, ready for the precise moment to take the gun away, but luckily he didn't have to. As his finger tightened on the trigger, his arm raised instead, firing off warning shots into the air.

Gunnar growled angrily. “Can't you just leave before I change my mind and actually shoot you!” He didn't give Lee the chance to respond before he turned back to the grave once more, this time completely ignoring the other man's existence.

“Fine.” He said softly as turned to leave. “I'll see you back at the hangar.” As he walked away from the grave, he glanced down and saw a crinkled piece of paper on the ground. He grabbed it quickly as he continued walking back to his bike, only stopping to look at it when he was outside of the gates. It was a photo, a very old photo from the looks of it.

There was a much younger Gunnar standing with his arm wrapped around a slightly shorter Asian man and they both grinned cheekily into the camera. “Now what's this...” he raised the photo closer to his face as he noticed a telltale gold shield on the other man's waist.

Where there was guilt for intruding previously, now there was curiosity and more concern. He needed to see this through. He looked down at the photo once more before placing it in his pocket be before getting back on his bike. He had some work to do. Johnny Murata had a story and he needed to find out what is was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These guys are really hard to write! I hope everyone enjoys this and that they aren't too much out of character! :) Thanks for reading everyone!

The lights were still on at Barney's when he returned well after dark. Lee could only imagine what happened at the hangar for the rest of the day after he took off. He knew he should have headed straight back after leaving Gunnar, but he had some research to do. It had taken some time, but he found the story of Chris Kenner and Johnny Murata to be very interesting. He steeled himself for the anger waiting for behind the door, but he hoped Barney would understand why he had to do this, even if he didn't understand it himself,

“You're outta your fucking mind you know that?!” Barney bellowed the second after the door closed behind him. “Do you have any idea of the shitstorm you unleashed today?!”

“Gunnar a bit more pissy than usual?” Lee said before he could stop himself.

“He tried to strangle Toll and then he and Yang nearly got into it to the death! So yeah I think he's a bit more pissed than usual!”

Lee couldn't help but wince slightly at Barney's words. He knew that Gunnar had been a bit on edge at the cemetery, but Lee figured that when he finally left the other man alone, he would have calmed back down to at least normal levels of anger.

“I thought you told me you were leaving this alone.” Barney said gruffly.

Lee sighed and dropped on the couch. “I was. Until Toll told us what happened and I knew I needed to know. I wasn't surprised that he was mourning someone, but the way I found him...” He leaned back and pulled the photo he'd found out of his jacket. “I wanted to know why.”

Barney's eyes widened when he noticed what Lee had in his hands. He'd caught a glimpse of it once, way back when Gunnar had first joined the team. He'd made the mistake of asking about it when he caught him in what could only be described as a trance when staring at it. He asked the question and the next thing he knew, he had a Bowie knife to his throat and Gunnar had a gun pressing into his chest. He'd let it go, the man had just saved his life in a mission earlier that day and there had been no signs of the drugs or instability that led to his original dismissal, so Barney chalked it up to adrenaline and left him alone. From that point, he knew better than to ask about Gunnar's past again. 

“That photo is part of the reason he was raising hell back at the hangar.” Barney said calmly as he sat beside Lee. “He realized it was gone and knows you have it. If you would have been there, he would have tried to kill you for even looking at it.” He chuckled humorlessly. “He laid into me about sending you after him and then into Toll for even mentioning anything and that's when Yin vs Gunnar part 487 started up.”

“Well I guess it was a good idea for me stop on my little detour.” He pulled a few newspaper articles out of his jacket and showed them to Barney, only for the other man to groan in exasperation as he realized what they were from.

Barney just shook his head before standing. “Even though I know you're not going to listen to me and do what you want, I'm going to say this anyway. None of this has anything to do with you and it's really none of your business. You're only going to make this this worse.” He headed towards his bedroom and Lee stood to follow him until he heard Barney's next words. “You should probably go to your place Lee. Gunnar's next stop will probably be the here, after he realizes you aren't coming back to the hangar. I'll tell the others to stay clear of there tomorrow. Hopefully I won't have to look for any new teammates.” He muttered as he closed the door.

Lee groaned as he dropped back to the couch. Well now he knows just how badly he's managed to fuck up. Barney usually has no trouble telling you that you've screwed up, but when he does it with his actions and words, well that usually means that you've messed up big time. He knows that he should have stayed out of it, that his reasons for doing this were purely selfish, but he honestly hadn't expected the magnitude of what he had found. He silently left the house, sighing and replaying everything that had happened that day in his head as he started up his bike and headed to his apartment.

He rode to the hangar early the next day and was completely unsurprised when he saw Gunnar's bike already there. He walked inside to a disaster zone. The place had been trashed as if a tornado had hit it, furniture cracked and broken, tools and supplies thrown everywhere, and that's when his eyes finally landed on the six-foot five blonde laying in the middle of the floor. He was surrounded by alcohol with a bottle of Jack in hand and he knew then he'd found the source of the chaos.

Gunnar's eyes were cold as he stared up at Lee. “Hand it over.”

He handed over the photo without preamble. From the looks of the hangar and what Barney had told him, he'd done enough damage for the moment. “I heard you were out for my head yesterday.”

He took another drink of the whiskey before tossing the bottle to the side and watching it shatter against the plane. “You took him from me. You had it coming.”

He cautiously crouched down beside him. “Are you still out for my head now?”

Gunnar stared red, unfocused eyes in Lee's direction before grinning. “I would be if I knew which one to take off.” 

Lee thought it over as he stood. Gunnar didn't seem like he'd be getting up from the floor anytime soon, so this would be the best chance to tell him what he knew. Hopefully, neither one of them would come out of this maimed. “You know...” He started, “I had some time to do some research after I left yesterday.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Even though his voice was nothing but a drunken slur, Lee could still hear the hear the sharp edge to his question.

“Well I just wanted to say you and your partner had interesting lives...Sargent Kenner.”

It was completely silent for a few moments before Gunnar started to chuckle, then the chuckling became full-fledged laughter. Lee became slightly concerned. Nothing good ever came from laughter like that and with the head space he was in, he was even more unpredictable than usual.

When the laughter finally died down and Gunnar was left wiping his eyes, he finally spoke. “It would be you Christmas. It would be you that would find out about this.” He then jumped up as if he hadn't just downed an entire bottle of Jack and pinned Lee to the wall. “Kenner is dead!” He roared violently, a level of fury in his voice that Lee hadn't even seen during the Vilena mission. “He's been dead for years and he's not coming back now!”

“I... I” It was rare that Lee was made speechless. It took every ounce of his being to remain still and not attack, but he knew Gunnar wasn't going to hurt him just yet. The instant he pinned him, his grip went slack, giving Lee the perfect chance to escape. Lee knew that even on his worse day he could outmatch Gunnar, so if things went south he'd be fine, but that didn't seem to be what was happening here, so he decided to remain and see what Gunnar's next move would be. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, Gunnar's voice echoed through the hangar. This time much more soft and wistful, as if he'd forgotten that Lee was even there.

“Went through every respective cop in our divisions until we ended up together. There was a case and we bonded. Went from being my opponent, to my friend, to my fucking everything.”

“Who?” Lee knew he toeing the line by even speaking during Gunnar's speech, risking snapping the man out of his haze and back to the violent force that he'd been met with when he arrived. They both knew who he was speaking about, but it was finally starting to click with Lee that this was more than someone mourning a loved one. Just as much as Lee wanted to hear Gunnar say the name that started all of this, he was also beginning to think that Gunnar _needed_ to hear himself say it as well.

The sound of metal creaking as Gunnar's fist hit the wall echoed throughout the hangar and he met Lee's eyes with a sobering glare. “Johnny. That's what you wanted to hear right? Well it was Johnny.” He finally released Lee from his grip, pushing away from him and grabbing a beer from his pile of alcohol on the floor. Taking a sip, he turned to Lee again. “You guys would have loved him. He's a quicker and snarkier version of you Christmas. Only person before you guys that would never take my shit. He did have horrible form though.” Gunnar said with a soft chuckle.

Before Lee had realized it, he felt a grin pulling at his lips. “Really now? I think that'd be something to see. Barney would probably have a heart attack if there was someone else like me on the team.”

Gunnar glanced at Lee with something that he would dare say resembled warmth. “I'd pay to see that, since he can barely keep a hold on you sometimes.” Lee angrily objected, but the blond continued on as if he'd heard nothing. “It actually makes me think of a case that we worked, Johnny had to go undercover and...”

Lee wasn't sure how it had reached that point, listening to Gunnar tell stories about someone that up until a few minutes before he could barely say their name. It was like saying his name once had broken the lock on all of the memories they'd shared and they had just come pouring out. Gunnar talked about their cases. How they were banned from his favorite Japanese restaurant because shootouts followed them wherever they went. How even though he would complain constantly about them, he secretly loved all of the samurai history lessons Gunnar gave him. How his favorite place was this small home, Gunnar had built and then together they rebuilt, that was outside of the city. Something that was their own private hideaway.

He heard many emotions through the stories. Mainly fondness and adoration, some frustration and anger, and a few with nothing but pure amusement. However, guilt was the one that lingered over every word he spoke. No matter what he said or what story he told, the lingering thoughts of Johnny's death clouded over them. He knew what he was about to say would trigger another explosion, but this time, his reasoning wasn't selfish. He'd begun to realize why these memories seemed to take him to the extreme and he was shocked that he hadn't realized it sooner.

“It wasn't your fault you know.” Lee said calmly.

The icy gaze was instantly back on him. “What did you just say?”

Lee stood firm, ignoring the gaze as he pulled out the newspaper clipping and held it out to Gunnar, who eventually took it in shaking hands. The title, **'Local Cop Killed in Yakuza Sting Gone Bad.** ' at the top of the page. He instantly shredded it and charged at Lee, pinning him against the carrier.

“Where did you get this?!” He bellowed, shaking Lee against the plane.

“The internet isn't just for porn you know.” He said with a smirk as he tried to keep himself from fighting back. The guilt of Johnny's death had stuck with him for years and the least Lee could do after all of this is at least attempt at trying to help him through it. “It wasn't your fault.” he repeated once more.

“Don't.”

The punch was expected, but that didn't make his eye hurt any less. “I've tolerated your meddling in my business long enough! Stop. Speaking!” Each word was punctuated by another punch and Lee was slightly beginning to question his decision to not fight back.

“You were given bad info and sent into a trap. They almost lost you too.”

“Shut up!” This time it was a knee.

He was definitely glad he hadn't grabbed any food before he'd shown up there as he felt every ounce of air knocked out his gut. Now he was done with this whole gentle approach shit. He broke Gunnar's hold and sent in a quick jab into his stomach, knocking him back enough to barrel him to the ground.

Pinning his arms to his sides, Lee growled out. “Since the whole understanding approach here didn't work, I'll just say this. We've all lost people and I just wanted you to know you can talk to us!” He released his hold to return Gunnar's punches for good measure. “Holding onto this guilt is gonna make you crazier than you already are!”

Gunnar roared in rage before throwing Lee off, reversing their positions, and raising his fist to strike. His eyes blazed in fury and the more Lee focused on that gaze, the more despair he saw under the anger. He waited for the punch and was still slightly surprised when the fist slammed into the ground instead of his face.

“When the one person I want to talk to is gone what makes you think I would want to talk to any of you?!” He rolled away from Lee. “Do you know why I stared using Christmas?” He said as he began to pace the floor. “Using was the only way I could still hear his voice, but I had to quit and—and” his voice started to become slightly hysterical. “It's fading away and I don't know how to get it to come back and his voice and that picture are all I have left of him!”

_Well...Shit._ Lee thought. He should have taken Barney's warnings more seriously. It seemed like everything he was doing really was making this entire situation worse. He wasn't sure what to do now, but Gunnar made the decision for him as he kept speaking.

“You know...He died saving me.” He said softly. “I bet all that research didn't tell you that. In all the commotion of the sting, we missed one of Yoshida's guys. I noticed too late and the next thing I knew, there was blood on my face.” He sat next to his alcohol stash and grabbed another beer, “I took two in the back trying to shield him. I did everything I could think of. Called for backup to hurry, kept pressure on the wound, kept him talking and...”

They had managed to duck into an abandoned room after taking out the last of Yoshida's men. He had Johnny propped against the wall, using both of their hands to apply as much pressure as he could. Backup would get there soon and they would just be able to chalk this up as another one of their insane adventures.  
 _  
“We had...a good run didn't we Champ?”_

_Kenner just had to keep him talking. He couldn't look at the bright red blossoming against his shirt and seeping through their fingers. He couldn't listen to his breathing become more labored. They had survived worse than this. They had survived Yoshida himself! They weren't going to be taken out by two leftover goons._

_“It hasn't ended just yet Murata.” Why was it getting harder to breathe? He couldn't pass out now. He had to make sure Johnny was okay._

_He felt a light tapping at his shoulder. “Chris...”_

_He shook his head wildly. No! No this wasn't happening again. Yoshida wasn't going to take someone else he loved from. He refused to do this again! He laced their fingers together, much like they would do when they made love. It was something that he would always tease Johnny about, claiming the other man had sappier side that he refused to admit to._

_He held his hand as tightly as he could, as if he could will his strength into Johnny through their connection. He could hear his breathing begin to slow and Chris knew he had to look into those eyes one more time before they closed for good. “Don't think...you're leaving me alone here. I need you. I love you.”_

_The weak chuckle from Johnny and the bloody coughing fit that came after it is what finally tipped him over the edge and the tears that he had struggled to keep back finally began to fall as he felt the hand gripping his start to weaken and realized the inevitable was going to happen._

_Johnny took that moment to look up at him, his eyes still having the same twinkle as they did the day they met. Even though by know he had to have realized that it was the end of the line, he could still look at him like nothing was wrong. “Well champ... if we're gonna be spending the last moments of our lives together I should tell you...Chris I...”_  
  
Lee could feel the pain flowing from Gunnar in waves as he trailed off at the end of his story. “I didn't get to hear what he said. My wounds had finally won out.” He turned to back to face him and Lee couldn't help but wince at the pain he saw in face. “I thought that I'd at least go with him in death, but...”

“You woke up and he didn't.” Lee finished for him.

“I woke up about three days later. No one on the force wanted to tell me about what happened to Johnny. They didn't know about us, but they saw how we mellowed each other out and they were all afraid of what I would do when I did find out. A friend of ours, this girl named Minako, had shown up to check on me the same time Johnny's parents came to ID him.”

Gunnar sighed heavily as he continued, every word seemingly draining every ounce of energy he had left from him. “I had held on to a slim sliver of hope that he had made it somehow, but the second she came to see me I knew. I knew I was the only one that came outta that still breathing. He'd fought for as long as he could, but the bullet hit an artery and there was nothing anyone could do.”

He grabbed one of the beers on the ground and took a good chug, before tossing that bottle against the wall too. He glared at Lee again, looking as if he was about to charge him again, but instead he did something even stranger.

He grinned.

It was still an unnerving, toothy grin and he looked like he still would kill him at any moment, but it was a step up from the emotions Lee had seen previously from him today. “Ya know Christmas, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually want to rip your head off slightly less then when you showed up here.”

“Really now?” Lee said coolly as he relaxed against the wall, holding his ribs with a wince. “Why would that be?””

Gunnar's eyes turned cold again as he moved closer to Lee. “Even though I want to kill you for all the meddling you did, today was the first day I've been able to say his name in over twenty years without thinking it should have been me that didn't wake up.” He pushed passed Lee harshly, knocking the other man off balance as he headed out of the hangar without another word.

Lee stood there stunned until the pain from the beating he took brought him back to reality. Everything that had happened continued to replay through his mind as he made his way back to Barney's where the man begrudgingly let him in. “Do I need to start scouting for a new teammate?”

Lee shook his head as he sat down on the couch. “Nope, just a little worse for wear. Maybe you'll get lucky next time.” He said with a chuckle.

“So... did you finally find out what you wanted to know? That curiosity of yours finally settle?” Barney asked as he sat beside him.

Lee had to think about it. He did find out what made Gunnar so crazy every year, but he found much more than that too. “Hey Barney...What would you do if...” It wasn't a question the he had really ever thought needed asking. They knew what this job entailed the possibilities that waited for them during ever mission. What would he do if something ever happened to Barney?

“Lee will you get out of your own head already? I can hear your brain frying from the strain.” Barney said gruffly, slipping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him closer. Lee couldn't help the grin on his face at his words. They knew each other well enough that somethings didn't need to be said. He couldn't lie to himself though. He did care enough about the other man to admit that if death ever tried to take Barney, he'd follow them into hell to get him back and while the older man rarely said it, the sentiment was there.

“Like you're one to talk! The amount of poor brain cells you kill coming up with your halfcocked plans should be considered cruel and unusual punishment! He said as he relaxed against him.

“So, are you finally done with this or do you two need to go at it again for some sense to finally be knocked into your head?”

“No.” Lee leaned in closer, running his lips against Barney's jaw. “I think I finally get it.”

Lee wasn't sure what expected from Gunnar after the past few days. He knew better than to expect him to show up at the hangar and not want to maim someone, it was like nothing from the past few days had ever happened. Gunnar seemed to be as crazy as ever, but there seemed to be a difference about him. Like he finally had some control over what had been plaguing him for so long. There was a mild calmness there that if Lee had to guess, he hadn't felt in a long time.

Gunnar turned toward him suddenly, eyes narrowing as he felt Lee's staring. Lee remained silent, giving him a short nod in greeting. He may have been crazy enough to start this whole thing, but he was not crazy enough to bring it up again. Gunnar stared at him a bit longer before nodding in response and continued to harass Yang.

Lee didn't understand why he suddenly found himself smiling at the gesture. It wasn't anything unusual, but he knew. He knew that it was a close to thanks as he was ever going to get, not that he really deserved it. He had basically meddled in something that wasn't his business, brought up painful memories for a teammate for no other reason than his own curiosity and took a beating because of it. However, from the look that Gunnar had just given him, maybe he hadn't screwed up too badly after all. Maybe this could be one ghost that could finally stop its haunting.


End file.
